Chapter Text
~☆~
The city looked different after midnight.
From the window of the apartment, the streets below had become ribbons of headlights, glowing signs, and shadows moving between buildings. Somewhere far below, a car horn sounded twice before disappearing into the distance.
Daniela pressed her forehead against the glass.
“Everyone's still awake,” she murmured.
Behind her, the room was anything but quiet.
Manon was sitting cross-legged on the floor, scrolling through her phone. Lara had taken over half of the couch, while Megan was attempting to balance a packet of snacks on her head.
Sophia noticed first.
“Why are you doing that?”
Megan grinned.
“I don't know.”
“Fair enough.”
Yoonchae laughed from the other side of the room.
And Katseye's newest song was still playing quietly through the speakers.
It had been a long day.
Rehearsals.
Interviews.
Filming.
Another rehearsal.
Then another interview.
Usually, by this point, everyone would have been asleep.
But tonight was different.
Tomorrow was the first day of their biggest performance week yet.
And nobody could sleep.
Daniela turned away from the window.
“So,” she said, “are we actually ready?”
Silence.
Everyone looked at everyone else.
Megan slowly lowered the snack packet from her head.
“No.”
Lara burst out laughing.
“That's reassuring.”
“I mean,” Megan continued, “we're ready enough.”
“Ready enough?” Manon repeated.
“That's basically ready.”
Sophia shook her head.
“You're impossible.”
Megan smiled.
“Thank you.”
Daniela dropped onto the couch beside Lara.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
The music continued.
Outside, the city carried on as though tomorrow wasn't important at all.
But tomorrow was important.
Very important.
They had spent weeks preparing for it.
And somehow, the closer it got, the less prepared Daniela felt.
She looked around the room.
Six girls.
Six completely different personalities.
Six people who had somehow ended up in the same place.
Together.
The thought made her smile.
“What?” Lara asked.
“Nothing.”
“You're smiling.”
“I can smile.”
“Suspicious.”
Daniela laughed.
Then the lights suddenly went out.
Every person in the room froze.
“Uh…”
Megan's voice came from somewhere in the darkness.
“Was that supposed to happen?”
“No,” Sophia said.
The music stopped.
The apartment fell completely silent.
Then—
BANG.
Something struck the front door.
Everyone jumped.
“What was that?” Yoonchae whispered.
Another bang.
This one louder.
Manon stood up.
“Don't open it.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
A small light appeared beneath the door.
Not a phone.
Not a flashlight.
Something else.
A thin, bright line of violet light.
It moved slowly across the floor.
Daniela stared at it.
“What is that?”
Nobody answered.
The light suddenly disappeared.
Then something slid underneath the door.
A black envelope.
It landed in the middle of the floor.
Everyone stared at it.
Megan whispered, “Okay. That's creepy.”
Lara looked at Sophia.
Sophia looked at Manon.
Manon looked at Daniela.
Daniela sighed.
“Why is everyone looking at me?”
“Because you were closest,” Lara said.
“That is not a good reason.”
“It is the only reason.”
Daniela carefully approached the envelope.
There was no name on it.
No address.
No logo.
Just a single silver symbol stamped across the front.
A wild-looking star.
She picked it up.
The envelope was cold.
Far too cold.
“Don't open it,” Sophia said.
Daniela looked at her.
“Wasn't going to.”
“You're literally opening it.”
“Oh.”
She stopped.
Everyone stared.
Daniela slowly pulled the envelope open.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed the six of them standing on a stage.
But it wasn't a photograph from any performance they had ever done.
The stage was enormous.
The audience stretched impossibly far into the darkness.
And above them hung six enormous silver stars.
On the back of the photograph were five words.
YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN.
Nobody spoke.
Then the speakers turned on by themselves.
A burst of static filled the room.
The girls jumped.
The music began again.
Except it wasn't the song they'd been listening to.
It was something completely different.
A strange instrumental melody.
Daniela looked at the photograph.
The stars in the picture were glowing.
Actually glowing.
“Guys…”
The photograph began to change.
The stage disappeared.
The audience disappeared.
The six figures disappeared.
And words appeared across the photograph.
MIDNIGHT. TOMORROW.
Then another line.
COME ALONE.
The photograph went black.
Nobody moved.
Finally, Megan whispered:
“Okay.”
She looked around at everyone.
“That's definitely not normal.”
Lara nodded.
“Definitely.”
Yoonchae looked worried.
“What do we do?”
Sophia picked up the photograph.
“We find out who sent it.”
Manon frowned.
“And if it's dangerous?”
Sophia looked at the others.
“Then we don't go.”
Daniela looked toward the window.
The city was still glowing below them.
But now, somehow, it seemed different.
Less familiar.
As though something had been waiting for them all along.
She looked down at the silver star on the envelope.
It seemed to shimmer beneath the apartment lights.
Then, for just a second—
The star moved.
Daniela blinked.
It was still.
She swallowed.
“Tomorrow,” she said quietly.
Everyone looked at her.
“Tomorrow we find out what this means.”
Outside, somewhere beyond the city lights, a single silver star appeared in the night sky.
And nobody saw it except them.
~☆~